Venetian Ghetto

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
A store window in Venice's Jewish ghetto.
A store window in Venice's Jewish ghetto.
The inside of the Jewish museum in Venice's ghetto.
The inside of the Jewish museum in Venice's ghetto.

The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jewish people were compelled to live under the Venetian Republic. It is from its name, in the Venetian language, that the English, Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and Dutch words for "ghetto" are derived.

Contents

[edit] Location and Geography

The Ghetto is an area of the Cannaregio sestiere of Venice, divided into the Ghetto Nuovo ("New Ghetto"), and the adjacent Ghetto Vecchio ("Old Ghetto"). The names of the sections of the ghetto are misleading: the Ghetto Nuovo is actually older than the Ghetto Vecchio section.

[edit] History

Unlike much of Europe, the presence of Jews was usually tolerated in Venice from the late fourteenth century. Restrictions on their movement and permitted trades varied, but moneylending, running pawnshops, dealing in second hand goods and tailoring were common occupations. The tolerance of Jews in the Venetian Republic came to an end following the 1509 influx of Sephardic Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, and some public figures talked of deporting or isolating the Venetian Jews. The Jews of Venice were not expelled, as was the case in many European countries, but the Venetian Ghetto was instituted in 1516. Surrounded by canals, the area was only linked to the rest of the city by two bridges, which were closed from midnight until dawn and during certain Christian festivals, when all Jews were required to stay in the Ghetto.

Despite the restrictions on movement and terribly cramped conditions, the Jewish population thrived, and in 1541, the quarter was enlarged to cover the neighbouring Ghetto Vecchio, and in 1633, the Ghetto Nuovissimo (Newest Ghetto) was also added.

The area had such a dense population that – uniquely in Venice – buildings rose to six or more stories. There were numerous benevolent institutions, and it is still home to five synagogues. They are known for their interiors, the oldest, the Scuola Grande Tedesca, dating from 1528. Most have fairly plain exteriors, although the Scola Levantina is a grander, Baroque building. The Scola Spagnola now contains the Museum of Hebrew Art.

During Napoleon Bonaparte's occupation of Venice in 1797, the gates enclosing the Ghetto were demolished, but Venetian Jews did not gain full citizenship rights until 1818. For the rest of the 19th century, the population of the Ghetto declined steeply and many of the buildings fell into disrepair.

During the Second World War, some 200 Jews were deported from Venice and the Venetian Ghetto between the years of 1943 and 1945. After the end of the Holocaust, only eight returned.

It should be noted that segretation was not unique to the Jews in Venice. During the sixteenth century, there were also German (Fondaco dei Tedeschi), Ottoman Turkish (Fondaco dei Turchi), and Greek Orthodox quarters, in which merchants from of those nationalities and religions were compelled to reside.

[edit] The Ghetto Today

Today, the Ghetto is still a center of Jewish life in the City of Venice, and is home to the aforementioned five synagogues, a yeshiva, a kosher restaurant, several Judaica shops, and a Chabad office. Although only around 30 of Venice's roughtly 500 Jews still live in the Ghetto (most residents are Venetian Christians), many return there during the day for religious services in the two synagouges which are still used (the other three are only used for guided tours, offered by the Museo Comunità Ebraica [Jewish Community Museum]).

[edit] Historical Jewish Demographics of the Ghetto

Though it was home to a large number of Jews, the population living in the Venetian Ghetto never assimilated to form a distinct, "Venetian Jewish" ethnicity. The four of the five synagogues were clearly split along ethnic lines: separate synagogues existed for the German (The Scuola Grande Tedesca), Italian (The Scuola Italiana), Sephardic (The Scuola Spagnola), and Levantine Mizrahi communities (The Scola Levantina). The fifth, the Scuola Canton, is believed to either have been French, or a private synagogue for the families who funded its construction. Today, there are also populations of Ashkenazic Jews in Venice, mainly Chabad-Lubavitchers (Chabad-Lubavitch Jews operate the kosher restaurant, the yeshiva, and the aforementioned Chabad office).

Languages historically spoken in the confines of the Ghetto include Venetian, Italkian, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, French, and German. In addition, Hebrew was traditionally (and still is) used on signage, inscriptions, and for official purposes such as wedding contracts (as well as, of course, in religious services). Today, English is widely used in shops and the Museum because of the large amount of English-speaking (mostly American) tourists.

[edit] Etymology

The name is derived for the "campo gheto" an area that iron foundries located there in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries used for cooling slag (Venetian "gheta"; Italian "ghetta"; from Latin GLITTU[M], GLITTUS).

[edit] In fiction

[edit] Reception

The trilogy work by Israel Zangwill
  • Kinder des Ghetto. 1897. Cronbach, Berlin 1897, 1913 (German).
  • Träumer des Ghetto. 1898. Cronbach, Berlin 1908, 1922 (German).
  • Komödien des Ghetto. 1907. Cronbach, Berlin 1910 (German).

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] References

Coordinates: 45°26′43″N, 12°19′35″E

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../v/e/n/Venetian_Ghetto_696a.html"
In other languages